As expected, the first case of Zika has finally been confirmed in Arizona. Yesterday, our Arizona State Public Health Laboratory identified Zika virus in a specimen sent to us for testing. The case, an older adult woman in Maricopa County, was infected with the disease while traveling in a country with known Zika virus transmission. [...]
A few weeks ago I blogged about Zika virus, a disease spread by mosquitoes that was newly detected in several Central and South American countries. This week, the CDC confirmed the first case virus of Zika in the United States. The virus was found in a person who lives in Texas, but who had traveled [...]
Our state has experienced some powerful storms over the past month with the most recent hitting the Greater Phoenix Area last night. After the storm passes, the threat to public health can continue. Fortunately, there are simple actions you can take to prevent the spread of these health risks, including mosquito-borne disease, flood water runoff [...]
Back in July, Arizona’s first case of West Nile virus was confirmed in Maricopa County. Unfortunately, the disease hasn’t stopped there. We’re continuing to see an increase in mosquito-borne illnesses statewide. So far this year, 46 cases of West Nile virus and 12 cases of Saint Louis encephalitis (another virus spread by the same mosquito that causes West Nile) have been confirmed in [...]
Monsoon rain and humidity is great (at least I think so)… but with it comes mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus. Every year since West Nile virus was introduced to AZ in ‘04, we’ve had human cases of West Nile Virus (meaning it’s endemic now). The total number of cases bumps around every year from [...]
